To think that antisemitism now needs to be tackled in the strongest possible way?

Very true! Honestly, I wouldn't normally care what goes on with social media - it's always been full of lunatics following lunatics. It's really opened my eyes to how many weirdos there must be walking among us!

What makes the terrifying surge in antisemitism different is that (a) it results in such violent destruction (b) seems to be intensifying and (c) appears to be deliberately orchestrated by extremist forces that are not short of a few bob (e.g Qatar funding), to achieve goals that are clearly stated yet tend to be overlooked and underestimated.

I realise that (c) makes me sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I'm just following the evidence of my own eyes over the past 2 years. The sadistic attacks of 7/10 were horrific enough, but seem to have been designed to capture the public attention ready for a sustained global "PR" attack on Israel and Jewish people around the world. And it is rapidly gaining impetus.

Oh, her!

Why would anyone take someone who is clearly unwell seriously, let alone publish their musings?

Beyond me.

And the ridiculous stuff she says about a Brigitte Macron.

@Susan7654

The fact that she calls out Israeli government doesnt make her anti- jewish. She calls out USA governement too- and it doesnt mean she is anti american.

Jewish people dont like what she says about Israeli governemnt and call her antisemitic. That is not fair and twisted logic.
I am not supporting her but I love history and beeing accurate with facts.

Jewish people, and others, call her antisemitic because she says things like "Jewish people hate black people" and "Jewish people were in control of the slave trade" and "The only reoson Jewish people are in pornography is because Christ sucks" and "The idea that Mengele did experiments on Jewish people is bizarre propaganda" and that a Rabbi is "drunk on Christian blood".

I like to assume only really really stupid people don’t understand the thousands of years of history of Jewish persecution and the need to endure it doesn’t happen again. Unfortunately it turns out the world is full of really really stupid people who will recite whatever crap people write in the barn wall! Anyone caught denying the Holocaust should be sent to jail imo

You know there won't ever be a compromise, surely?

I think lots of people know about and understand the Holocaust. What fewer people understand is that antisemitism didn't start there, just as much as it didn't end with it - Jews have a lot of reasons to feel unsafe, literally millennia of it. And that's a big gap in understanding.

I am a Jewish critic of Israel and I think Netanyahu's actions are unforgivable. I believe now that the founding of Israel (certainly how it was done) was an utter disaster for the Palestinian people. But the answer to that isn't to, I dunno, disestablish Israel and create a disaster for Israeli Jews instead. The wrongs of Israel's founding is not the fault of every person living there now. So the only way forward has to be a compromise, which the leadership of both sides have made a virtual impossibility.

I know you weren't asking me, but I'll poke my nose in anyway!

This is a tricky one because the right to free speech is central to the principles of a fair and enlightened society. However, I'd like to see more prosecutions for hate crimes/incitement. We have been too tolerant of deliberate acts of intimidation such as the aggressive "pro-Palestinian" demos on the anniversary of 7/10. Demonising Israel, in ways that deliberately disrupt the peaceful lives of the tiny Jewish population of this country (and others of course!), seems to have become widespread and applauded. I believe this is being deliberately orchestrated to serve a very specific agenda, and should not be left to unfold without intervention.

Including here in the UK, where the focus on destroying Israel and Jews has some hardcore adherents, from the bullies who terrorise the streets with slogans and placards, to those sweet-looking OAPs happy to be arrested for Palestine Action (whose co-founder spoke in praise of Hamas in Manchester on 8 October 2023).

This is not "just" a Middle Eastern conflict.

https://www.cps.gov.uk/north-west/news/terrorists-convicted-over-plot-targeting-jewish-communities

Walid Saadaoui planned to smuggle four high-powered military grade AK 47 rifles, two pistols and 900 rounds of ammunition into the UK. He had paid a deposit on the weapons in February 2024. His plan was to use these to carry out an attack on a mass march against Antisemitism in Manchester city centre, and then to move the attack to an area of north Manchester occupied predominantly by the Jewish community.

Thanks to @keepeofthesevenkeys for posting this link on the Bondi thread.

You know there won't ever be a compromise, surely?

I think lots of people know about and understand the Holocaust. What fewer people understand is that antisemitism didn't start there, just as much as it didn't end with it - Jews have a lot of reasons to feel unsafe, literally millennia of it. And that's a big gap in understanding.

I am a Jewish critic of Israel and I think Netanyahu's actions are unforgivable. I believe now that the founding of Israel (certainly how it was done) was an utter disaster for the Palestinian people. But the answer to that isn't to, I dunno, disestablish Israel and create a disaster for Israeli Jews instead. The wrongs of Israel's founding is not the fault of every person living there now. So the only way forward has to be a compromise, which the leadership of both sides have made a virtual impossibility.

I like to assume only really really stupid people don’t understand the thousands of years of history of Jewish persecution and the need to endure it doesn’t happen again. Unfortunately it turns out the world is full of really really stupid people who will recite whatever crap people write in the barn wall! Anyone caught denying the Holocaust should be sent to jail imo

I'm so glad you all came back.

It can feel lonely sometimes being vocally pro Israel.

Though there are some fantastic fellow pro Israel supporters even on the scary CITME board, generally much better informed than me (but I am only an apprentice 😂)

My dad was in the parachute regiment in WW2. He was taken prisoner by the Germans and spent time in a couple of prison camps. He told me they used to see truck loads of dead bodies going past the camps frequently. He said to me "don't ever let anyone tell you that the Holocaust never happened". I will never forget that.

Looks like a few of us left and came back! X

@Kingscallops you won't recognise mine either.

Hi, @LucyWestenra. been giving your thread a lot of thought these past few days.

What does “tackled in the strongest possible way” mean to you, practically? What is it you would like to see the Government/authorities actually doing that currently is not being done?
Really interested to know.

@Kingscallops you won't recognise mine either.

It was much more so in the immediate aftermath of 7/10 and for about a year after. Many of my posts were deleted for pointing out (as politely as I could) that they were simply making up wild and easily disproved inflammatory nonsense. Whole threads gloated over Israeli suffering and were left to stand. Many threads were started and continued with simple cut-and-paste from X/Insta bollocks with no commentary, which surely broke all the rules about spamming, yet they remained for months, attracting more spite and vitriol. Before deleting my account I wrote to MN about this, because I was extremely worried about Hamas infiltration. I get the feeling that at some point much later they might have agreed, or been forced to review this (the offending threads no longer exist, so presumably were retrospectively deleted), but the damage was done. Of course, MN was not the only target. It was this avalanche of malicious disinformation that initially made me so wary of the so-called "pro-Palestinian" marches that were arranged on 7/10 and have continued ever since. Something else is going on here, a war fought by different methods than we are used to seeing. I think the Gaza conflict will go down in history as a watershed in recognising the potential dangers of social media.

Yes. I’m Jewish and often keep it hidden in real life. Worried who might be anti Semitic. I worry for my kids (aged 15, 19 and 22). Oldest 2 at uni - course mates don’t know they are Jewish (sharing houses with people they met at j-soc). 15 YO at a Jewish school. Worried about him in identifiable uniform. Dh wears a kipa locally but wouldn’t now at work or in central London. Sigh.